Would have been nice to at least hit enter so we could see if those "Can't Trade" items become "will trade" or "won't trade" since some brokering is possible with Justinian whose has neither compass nor polytheism. Alternatively, You may want to gift Darius meditation to open up a feudalism for philosophy trade. Then trade feudalism for construction via Justinian.
If you can get feudalism then vassalage will be an excellent civic option and you can attach the GG instead of settling. You haven't moved your palace yet and probably should not do so (it is at the center of a half-circle of land that includes a number of Sal's cities) thus you can stay in Vassalage for a while (at least until Nationalism and Theocracy if you choose that option).
I also like what you did last round where you captured the research adviser screen that showed all the available techs to research and their times. For us who can't or generally don't load up the saves that would be quite helpful.
I do not see happy being a huge issue given the fact you have multiple religions present (you may want to consider S.Paya and an early free religion plus liberalism bypass), and access to market and forge multiplier resources. Food and production are not huge concerns thus getting more land will make up for a lack of mature cottages. Representation will be our long-term goal so we will either need to plan our interim empire for an eventual transition from HR to Rep or ignore HR all together and avoid the turn(s) of anarchy.
I still like HBR-MC (picking up compass and construction through trades) and then planning for our conquest of Saladin while we research currency. Eventually we'll also need to deal with Ragnar, who is too crazy (and backward) to keep alive. During that phase we'll want to REX some key cities while building our military.
Question: at 64 population (8 cities sized 8) what is the break-even point for the number of military units such that the difference in the cost of Vassalage (compared to barbarism) greater than the unit discount. Basically, can we expect a net positive or negative to our gold-flow by switching to vassalage? I guess it really doesn't matter other than we may be able to REX some secondary cities as well and both up our population as well as cover more land.
Saladin does NOT have construction yet (though is likely to trade for it sooner rather than later I would guess) and has researched compass (does this mean he is or is soon likely to be researching metal casting?). He also just had a big power spike (upgrading archers to longbows maybe?). Either we can switch to caste system now or wait until we get feudalism. We also may want to whip down some more cities to crank out a military so that we only need to add catapults to the mix and then begin marching on his cities.
Also, who/when was Judaism founded? Justinian has switched to it but was not the founder...
Ok, my initial plan:
Research: HBR-MC first; trade for Construction and Feudalism if possible; otherwise research them
Civics: No Change
City builds:
Gondar: barracks/stables - horse archers
Aksum: temple/barracks/stables - war elephants
Akkad: archers/axes/longbows
Babylon: settlers/workers/navy
Once you get feudalism switch (only) to vassalage - not Caste System or HR
Once you get construction and have a decent core army assembled (and support cities founded) whip/chop out forges and catapults from those four cities until they bleed and then maximize food while the army rolls out and declares war on Saladin. Hooking up the furs/silver along with the forges should allow you to quickly get the cities back to size.
War:
Send out some spies or scouts to find and track the enemy SoD. Plan on killing them on the flat land on your northern border. It will probably take some time for this to occur and meanwhile your cities are growing and getting rid of whip anger. You will want at least a small navy to guard your coastal resources and, later, to blockade his.
Your economy will hopefully be OK (especially if you can pickup currency) during this initial phase. Just before you start the aggression phase switch to caste system to get artists for border pops and merchants to fund the campaign when necessary. Try and keep research up but obviously you'll need units as well. The goal should be to control all the land currently visible. The NE access to the peninsula is very defensible (plus we don't know what lies beyond so planning for it is impossible - some more scouting would be nice...)
If you can get feudalism then vassalage will be an excellent civic option and you can attach the GG instead of settling. You haven't moved your palace yet and probably should not do so (it is at the center of a half-circle of land that includes a number of Sal's cities) thus you can stay in Vassalage for a while (at least until Nationalism and Theocracy if you choose that option).
I also like what you did last round where you captured the research adviser screen that showed all the available techs to research and their times. For us who can't or generally don't load up the saves that would be quite helpful.
I do not see happy being a huge issue given the fact you have multiple religions present (you may want to consider S.Paya and an early free religion plus liberalism bypass), and access to market and forge multiplier resources. Food and production are not huge concerns thus getting more land will make up for a lack of mature cottages. Representation will be our long-term goal so we will either need to plan our interim empire for an eventual transition from HR to Rep or ignore HR all together and avoid the turn(s) of anarchy.
I still like HBR-MC (picking up compass and construction through trades) and then planning for our conquest of Saladin while we research currency. Eventually we'll also need to deal with Ragnar, who is too crazy (and backward) to keep alive. During that phase we'll want to REX some key cities while building our military.
Question: at 64 population (8 cities sized 8) what is the break-even point for the number of military units such that the difference in the cost of Vassalage (compared to barbarism) greater than the unit discount. Basically, can we expect a net positive or negative to our gold-flow by switching to vassalage? I guess it really doesn't matter other than we may be able to REX some secondary cities as well and both up our population as well as cover more land.
Saladin does NOT have construction yet (though is likely to trade for it sooner rather than later I would guess) and has researched compass (does this mean he is or is soon likely to be researching metal casting?). He also just had a big power spike (upgrading archers to longbows maybe?). Either we can switch to caste system now or wait until we get feudalism. We also may want to whip down some more cities to crank out a military so that we only need to add catapults to the mix and then begin marching on his cities.
Also, who/when was Judaism founded? Justinian has switched to it but was not the founder...
Ok, my initial plan:
Research: HBR-MC first; trade for Construction and Feudalism if possible; otherwise research them
Civics: No Change
City builds:
Gondar: barracks/stables - horse archers
Aksum: temple/barracks/stables - war elephants
Akkad: archers/axes/longbows
Babylon: settlers/workers/navy
Once you get feudalism switch (only) to vassalage - not Caste System or HR
Once you get construction and have a decent core army assembled (and support cities founded) whip/chop out forges and catapults from those four cities until they bleed and then maximize food while the army rolls out and declares war on Saladin. Hooking up the furs/silver along with the forges should allow you to quickly get the cities back to size.
War:
Send out some spies or scouts to find and track the enemy SoD. Plan on killing them on the flat land on your northern border. It will probably take some time for this to occur and meanwhile your cities are growing and getting rid of whip anger. You will want at least a small navy to guard your coastal resources and, later, to blockade his.
Your economy will hopefully be OK (especially if you can pickup currency) during this initial phase. Just before you start the aggression phase switch to caste system to get artists for border pops and merchants to fund the campaign when necessary. Try and keep research up but obviously you'll need units as well. The goal should be to control all the land currently visible. The NE access to the peninsula is very defensible (plus we don't know what lies beyond so planning for it is impossible - some more scouting would be nice...)
poor.
logic. So in some past games you wanted to be in some other Government civic, but you were getting too much of a benefit from HR to feel you could change. So to avoid this "problem" in your current games you don't use HR, thus depriving yourself of the benefits that it brings so that you're free to switch to the other Government civics when they become available. 
. It allows me to grow my cities quickly so they become more productive , which allows me to continue progress and find ways to replace the HR 
, this is your economic ticket at the moment. Any horizontal expansion right now will cost you more than it's worth. Wait to expand for a few turns while you get your economy righted.
